Brenda Campbell

Criminal Defence

Brenda Campbell specialises in all areas of criminal defence and consistently achieves successful outcomes in cases she has undertaken both in her own capacity and while being led as junior counsel. She has a vibrant practice in the Crown Court with a primary focus on representing women, children and those with mental health problems. She has significant experience representing those who are unfit to plead and / or cannot effectively participate in their trial.

Brenda has defended against accusations of murder, terrorism, kidnap, false imprisonment, conspiracy to rob and firearms, robbery, drugs, immigration and dishonesty offences. Additionally she has a growing Appeal Court practice and an excellent track record in appellant cases. She regularly advises on appeals against conviction and sentence and is in the Court of Appeal.

Notable cases include:

Murder

• R v Gok & another, Woolwich Crown Court, June 2006,
• R v Powar & others, Central Criminal Court, December 2007,
• R v Cohen & others, Sheffield Crown Court, March 2008

Terrorism

• R v Gassama & others, Leicester Crown Court, January 2008 - Conspiracy to kidnap and behead a British, Muslim soldier http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2008/jan/30/terrorism.world

Appeals

• R v Gordon & Others [2007] EWCA Crim 165 re the operation of and interaction between s 67 of the Criminal Justice Act 1967 ("the 1967 Act") and s 240 of the Criminal Justice Act 2003 ("the 2003 Act") and the impact on the sentencing process of time spent by defendants in custody on remand.
• R v Carl O'Brien [2007] EWCA Crim 311, re the unworkability of short-term tariffs for IPP sentences.
• R v Tugwete [2006] EWCA Crim 2290 re the imposition of a sentence of imprisonment on a single mother convicted of dishonesty offences.
• Mark Bucknell v DPP [2006] EWHC 1888 (Admin) re dispersal directions under the Anti-social Behaviour Act 2003 s.30.
• R v James (Desmond) [2006] EWCA Crim 1810 re the imposition of an Anti Social Behaviour Order following a lengthy prison sentence.

Inquests

In addition to her criminal practice, in 2007, led by Dexter Dias, Brenda represented the mother of Gareth Myatt, a child who died following restraint in the privately-run Rainsbrook detention centre. The inquest is reported to be the longest inquest into a death in prison custody and in the course of some 6 weeks the alarming truth about systematic neglect of child safety and the pervasive use of excessive force was exposed. The jury returned an unparalleled narrative verdict deprecating the enduring failures of the Home Office and Youth Justice Board to protect the lives and safety of children. The judge, His Honour Judge Pollard, in his rule 43 recommendations specified 34 actions he believed should be taken to prevent other children dying in custody.

Brenda is working with those representing Gareth's mother to fight for an official inquiry into the deplorable state of the juvenile justice system. She is convinced that a full public inquiry, bringing to the wider public's attention the distressing and often deplorable treatment of children in the criminal justice system as a whole, is both long overdue and utterly necessary to stem the increasing criminalization of children society.

Click here to read HHJ Pollard's Report to the Secretary of State for Justice
Click here for more info Gareth Myatt Inquest

Before practicing at the London Bar, Brenda maintained a varied practice at the Northern Irish Bar, including crime, judicial review, inquests and employment law.

Background

Brenda has worked extensively in the field of human rights, both nationally and internationally. With a focus on women's human rights and the rule of law, Brenda works closely with organisations such as IWRAW Asia Pacific, (www.iwraw-ap.org), the Kurdish Human Rights Project (www.khrp.org) and the Bar Human Rights Committee. She represents IWRAW Asia Pacific in the NGO coalition for an Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Economic Social & Cultural Rights, regularly involving presence at the United Nations Palais des Nations in Geneva and at global strategy meetings.

In recent times she has travelled on behalf of the Bar Human Rights Committee to Kabul, Afghanistan to deliver a 3 day workshop on the rights of women and children. Click here to read more . On behalf of the Kurdish Human Rights Project she travelled to Iraqi Kurdistan to deliver a cross border training on the rule of law and to South Eastern Turkey to deliver training on the rights of women and to undertake a fact-finding mission. Additionally, Brenda has delivered training courses to lawyers and civil society in many European jurisdictions on the use of the Optional Protocol to the CEDAW Convention and on the application of UN standards in domestic legislation.

Brenda is Irish and attended Queen's University Belfast before becoming based in London. She frequently combines work and travel and in December 2008, in combination with her attendance at the International Strategy Meeting on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in Nairobi, she intends to climb Mount Kilimanjaro in aid of Just for Kids Law (www.jfklaw.org)

Publications

Contributing author to Blackstone's Guide to the Criminal Justice and Immigration Act 2008 - to be published imminently.

Societies

Criminal Bar Association, Inquest Lawyer's Group, South Eastern Circuit.

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